Toyota just hasn't been able to catch a
break in the past few weeks. The company has been faced with loads of
bad press surrounding the accelerator pedals in eight of its most
popular vehicles sold in the U.S., including the best-selling car in
the country: the Camry.

In order to fully grasp the situation
at hand, Toyota (which was prodded by the NHTSA) took the drastic
step of stopping
sales on on the eight models in order to solve the problem.
Luckily, Toyota was able to find
a fix for the problem and dealerships are staying open late in
order to accommodate the influx of customers rushing to have their
vehicles fixed.

To make matters worse, Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood poured
more salt on the wounds earlier this week by stating, “If
anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it. And take it to a
Toyota dealer.” LaHood later backtracked from the statements,
adding, “What I said in there was obviously a misstatement. If you
own one of these cars, or if you’re in doubt, take it to the
dealer."

Unfortunately, the damage had already
been done and already worried Toyota owners were sent into a frenzy
over the TV, print, and internet reports parroting LaHood's comments.

And if the past two weeks haven't been
bad enough for the company, there is now bad news in store for its
crown jewel: the 2010 Prius. Toyota posting the following blurb on
its press site regarding the problem:

In certain 2010
model year Prius vehicles, Toyota has received reports that some
customers have experienced inconsistent brake feel when the vehicle
is driven over potholes, bumps or slippery road surfaces.

Toyota is
currently in the process of confirming these reports and
investigating the vehicle driving conditions under which the reported
phenomenon occurs. It would be premature to comment until the
investigation has been completed.

Apparently, the problem lies with an
ABS software glitch that causes less than a second delay between when
braking pressure is first applied and the actual brakes engage. "The
driver steps on the brake, and they do not get as full of a braking
feel as expected," said
a Toyota spokesman to CNN.

According to Toyota officials, the
problem occurs most frequently on bumpy or icy roads.

Toyota said that it fixed the software
problem in Prius vehicles manufactured since January. However, the
company has made no mention of when it plans to apply a fix to the
2010 Prius hybrids produced before January.

"This is about the Internet. Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." -- RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis